EVs are driven by an electric motor powered by an insulated battery pack that stores energy. They are held to the same safety standards as gasoline vehicles and must be able to pass tests for overcharging, extreme temperatures, fires, accidents, water immersion, vibrations, and short-circuiting.
Unlike smartphone or laptop batteries, those in EVs are engineered for thousands of charge cycles using advanced lithium-ion technology with specialized cooling systems. Because of this durability, EVs can be expected to perform well for their entire lifetimes—and the warranty periods offered by automakers are designed to reflect this confidence in long-term reliability.
Many EV owners enjoy lower maintenance costs as they do not have to spend money on oil changes, spark plugs or complex cooling systems, and fewer replacement parts are needed overall. Those savings can add up to $1,000-$2,000 per year, according to Consumer Reports surveys of EV owners.
A key concern for prospective EV buyers has been range anxiety, but extensive testing and owner surveys suggest that this is a largely unfounded worry. Even though EVs can travel up to 300 miles on a single charge, cold weather, hilly terrain and speeds that exceed city driving limits will reduce range. Smart route-planning apps can help minimize this impact.
Increasing EV adoption and ensuring that charging infrastructure is available to all will require substantial investments in research and development, but the investment also supports tens of thousands of new high-quality jobs for carworkers, construction workers, electricians and other skilled tradespeople. Moreover, EVs consume significantly less energy throughout their life cycle than gasoline vehicles and generate substantially lower carbon emissions, as shown by the Argonne National Laboratory, Carbon Brief and Hannah Ritchie.